Al Qaeda Group Caused Shutdown of US Embassy in South Africa

An Al Qaeda splinter group that vowed revenge for the killing of one of its members in Somalia recently is reported to be behind the threats that closed down the US embassy and other US government facilities in South Africa.

The Johannesburg-based Star newspaper said the recent killing by US Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, of a leading Al Qaeda operative, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, during a raid on a rebel convoy in southern Somalia, triggered the threats.

Nabhan was linked to the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which hundreds of people died and was said to be the mastermind behind the attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa in 2002 in which three Kenyans and 10 Israelis were killed.

The South African newspaper says the suspected African Al Qaeda splinter group telephoned the United States Embassy in Pretoria on Monday. The call was identified as “emanating from South Africa.”

The newspaper said the caller described plans to attack several U.S. government buildings. The U.S. has its embassy in Pretoria, consulates in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and offices of the government aid organisation, USAID.

The calls were reportedly intercepted by US intelligence.

US facilities in other Southern African countries were apparently also threatened, but no buildings there were closed.